Decorating apparatus



Feb. 8, 1938. F. B. M QUISTON 2,107,491

DECORATING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 24, 1936 JET. 11L 5a EIEIEIEIEIEIEIEIB IINVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 8, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DECORATING APPARATUS Frederick B. Mequiston, Grafton, Pa., assignor to The 0. Hommel Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 24, 1936, Serial No. 112,546

2 Claims.

3 application of vitrifiable material upon articles of glassware or clay. The applied material is adapted by firing to be integrated with the underlying vitreous body of the article, and to provide the desired ornamental design thereon. The

. surfaces, and in exemplary way-I shall describe the invention as I have practiced it inthe decoration of such objects.

In the accompanying" drawing Fig. I is a view in end elevation of'apparatus embodying the invention, and certain parts of the apparatus are in dotted lines illustrated inalternate positions of service; Fig. II is a View in front elevation of the apparatus; Figs. III and IV are fragmentary views, showing in plan and in vertical section, respectively, and to larger scale, a' particular printing bar embodied in the apparatus; and Fig. V is a view to larger scale of a cup decorated in the apparatus.

The apparatus includes one or more bars, formed conveniently of metal or rubber, adapted to receive and carry a'film of the decorative material to be applied. The article-a cup in this case-to which application is to be made is rolled in contact with the film-bearing surfaces of the bars, and as it so rolls the material is transferred and lies in bands around the circumference of the article. Firing follows, the bands of decoration are vitrified and integrated with the underlying ceramic body of the article, and the article on cooling carries the desired ornament.

In the apparatus as shown in Figs. I and II, one such bar I is shown, mounted in a supporting block 2 on a horizontal bed 3. In known Way, a hand roller 4 (Fig. II), coated with moist decorating material, is rolled over the surface of the bar and a film of decorating material applied. The cup to be decorated is indicated at C; in Fig. II it is shown in full lines in position to be rolled in right-to-left'direction upon the bar; and in its right-to-left progress a band 5 (Fig. I) of decorating material is picked up from the bar and gradually laid around the circumference of the cup.

In its travel upon the bar I, the cup is mounted in a rotary work-holder 6, and the work-holder is adapted to travel longitudinally of the bar,

with the side of the cup held in rolling contact with the film-bearing face of the bar. The workholder is carried by an arm 1 extending from a carriage I'I. Intermediate its opposite ends the arm I is pivo-tally mounted, at 2 I, on the carriage.

A weight 22 is secured on the arm, partially to counterbalance weight of the work-holder, and to insure that the cup shall engage the bar with the proper pressure of contact. The carriage I1 is mounted on wheels I8 for travel in a horizontal way l8 that extends in parallelism with the printing bar I. In this case the travel of the carriage (and the corresponding travel of the arm 'I and work-holder ii) is manually effected, handles 20 being provided on the carriage for such purpose.

More specifically, the work-holder consists in a frame of inverted U-shape, in which the base 6a of the U is by a plate 8 and screw 9 secured to the arm 'I. The leg- 6b of the U is rigid, while the opposite leg 60 is adapted to swing, on a pivot l0, about the base of the U. A conical block II is mounted on a spindle I 2 in the foot of leg to, and anti-friction bearings (not shown) are in known way employed to insure that the block shall be delicately sensitive torotative stress. In like manner a rubber-faced knob I3 is mounted in the foot of leg 6b. In installing a cup to be decorated in the apparatus, the arm I is swung in a plane extending transversely to the film-bearing surface of bar I, in vertical plane in this case, into the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. I, and the leg 60 of the U-frame is swung outward. Then the cup is seated upon the conical block II, and the leg 60 is swung inward, bringing the bottom of the cup into abutment with theknob I3. A spring l4, effective between leg 6c and the base 6a of the U-frame, serves to hold the cup against the knob. The axes of the block I I and knob I3 extend in alignment, and, manifestly, the supported cup is readily responsive to rotative stress. It may be remarked that a plurality of rubber strips I5 are embodied in the conical block H, with the presented edges of the strips lying an interval from the face of the block. These strips, rather than the side surface of the b1ock, engage the inner surface of the installed cup, whereby the wall of the cup is engaged on lines, rather than on an extended area, of contact. In such manner the tendency for the cup to become too tightly wedged upon the block is eliminated.

When the cup has been thus installed, the arm I is swung downward into full line position (Fig. I), and the carriage II is shifted into such pogradually laid around the side surface of the cup,

providinga band extending circumferentially of the cup from one side of the handle h to the other. i

When the cup has thus horizontally traversed the bar I, the arm 3 is swung vertically upward, and

the decorated cup removed. 1

t is important to note that the right-hand end of the printing bar I comprises an abutment 1130 provide means for automatically reciprocating against which the handle, it of the cup is positioned, preparatcry to its traversal of the bar.

As the carriage is initially set in motion, the

initially set in rotation, there is no slipping be be applied.

engagement of the end of the bar with the cup handle is instrumental in imparting positive rotative stress to the cup, with the consequence and effect that, in overcoming inertia as the cup is tween the cup and the bar. It will further be perceived in Fig. II. that the effective length of the printing bar 5 unequal to the circumference of the cup to which the band of decoration is to- In length the bar equals the circumference of the cup from one side of the handle it to the other, that is to say, equals the linear value of the circgumference minus the breadth of the handle it. By virtue of these structural refinements, there is no difiiculty in properly setting cup in rotation, nor injudging the required distance of travel of the cup along the bar.

In Figs. III and IV, I show the printing bar in elaborated form. Type la of any desired pattern may be out in the face of the bar, and the applied band of decoration will, accordingly, be of the more highly ornamental order; illustrated at 5a in Fig. V; Indeed, it is contemplated that the printing device itself rnay be a line of individual type blocks assembled in the holder 2, or that other known devices may be used for applying the vitreous color material to the cups, or to other mound objects provided with handles er other protuberances.

It is obviously within the skill of the mechanic the carriage l1 horizontally and the work-holder B vertically. Additionally, it is merely a matter of engineering to mount the film-applyingroller 4 on the carriage l1, or 'on some other carrier, in such manner that the roller will traverse the printing device and apply a film of decorating material in advance of the object being decorated. And still other elaborations and modifications will occur to the engineer and artisan without departing from the essence of the invention defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus for decorating a round object having a handle on its side, the combination of a printing device including a surface bearing a film of decorating material, the length of said filmbearing surface being substantially equal to the circumference of the object to be decorated less the breadth of said handle, a carriage, rotary means borne by said carriage for supporting said object, said rotary means being movable in transverse plane with respect to the film-bearing surface of said printing device, into workreceiving position, and said carriage being movable in a direction extending angularly to such plane; whereby the supported object is rolled uponsaid film-bearing surface and decorating material applied in predetermined pattern to the surface of said object from one side of said handie to the other. f

2. In apparatus for applying decoration upon round objects, the combination of a narrow and relatively elongate printing device adapted to receive a fill'li? ofdecorating material, a carriage, an arm pivotally mounted upon and extending from said carriage, means carried by the extending portion of said arm for the rotary support of an object to be decorated, said arm being movable to bring the supported object into contact with the film-bearing face of said printing device, and said carriage being movable in a path extending in parallelism with and longitudinally of said printing device, whereby the object supported in contact with the printing device is rolled upon the film-bearing face thereof and decorating inateriafl applied to the surface of said object in predetermined pattern. 1

FREDERICK B. MCQUISTON. 

